Sophomore Zach Wagner tied a career high (23 points) in the Tigers’ 8th straight win on Saturday

Tigers take down Panthers in 102-77 CCAC victory; win 8th straight

Author: Nick Birkey
Posted: Monday, February 17, 2014 at 8:08 AM

LAPORTE, Ind. — The Olivet
Nazarene University men’s basketball team last suffered a defeat on January 18. Since then, the Tigers have won eight straight games, all against
CCAC opponents, winning by an average of 19 points. ONU stretched the streak to eight
with a 102-77 win on the road against Purdue University-North Central (Ind.) on Saturday, Feb. 15, scoring over 100 points for the second time this season. The eight-game
win streak is a part of a larger run, in which ONU has won 13 of its last 15
games dating back to December 14.

The evening affair started slow for Olivet (15-11, 13-4), as it took until the 11:51 mark for the team to find its 20th point. By that time, the Tigers led 21-14 using 10 points off of offensive rebounds to
stem the lead. However, Purdue-North Central (8-19, 3-14) stayed close through the
first 10 minutes of the game. ONU led 22-16 with 10:22 in the half, until a 13-3 run
gave the Tigers a commanding 35-19 lead with just over six minutes to play. For the remainder of the half the Tigers and Panthers played even,
until the last 1:44 when ONU scored the four points to take a 50-30 lead.

The Panthers started out hot in the second half scoring six
of the first nine points to cut the deficit to 17, and eventually
had to only 14 with just over 16 minutes to play in the game. Still, the Tigers started
to get hot on their own, finishing off a 19-7 run over the next six minutes to
take a 26-point lead, their largest of the game. The Panthers eventually got
the deficit back to 20 points with two and a half minutes to play, but it
was not enough as the Tigers again finished out the half on a 5-0 run.

Sophomore Zach Wagner
(Roselle, Ill.) tied his career high with 23 points, going 10-of-12 from
the field and 3-for-3 from the free-throw line. He also finished with eight
rebounds and four assists in 22 minutes.

Sophomore Aaron
Larson (Tolono, Ill.) finished with 18 points on 6-for-11 shooting from the
field, 2-for-3 from the three-point line and 4-for-4 from the free-throw line.
He added nine rebounds and three assists in 30 minutes.

Sophomore Reid
Farchmin (Mahomet, Ill.) finished with 12 points on 6-for-8 shooting from
the field. He added seven rebounds and four assists in 24 minutes.

Freshman Tyler Crater
(Hampshire, Ill.) finished with 12 points on 4-for-10 shooting, 1-for-5
from the three-point line and 3-for-4 from the free-throw line. He added three
rebounds and two assists in 22 minutes off the bench. Junior Matt Ryan (San Diego, Calif.) finished with 12 points on 5-for-7
shooting and 2-for-3 from the free-throw line. He added four rebounds in 13
minutes off the bench.

The Tigers’ starting point guard, junior Austin Davis (North Augusta, S.C.), returned
to the lineup after missing five games. He finished with three points and four
assists in 19 minutes.

Nick Lafty led Purdue-North Central with 23 points on 6-for-10
shooting from the field, 5-for-7 from the three-point line and 6-for-7 from the
free-throw line. He added three rebounds and two steals in 34 minutes. Tyler
Kowalkowski finished with 19 points on 8-for-19 shooting and 3-for-9 from the three-point
line, and had four rebounds in 39 minutes. Shereff Knight added 12 points, two rebounds
and one assist in 36 minutes.

Overall, the Tigers shot 38-for-65 from the field (58.5
percent), 4-for-12 from the three-point line (33.3 percent) and 22-for-29 from
the free-throw line (75.9 percent). They outrebounded the Panthers 46-14, committed 12 turnovers, and totaled 28 assists, with 19 offensive rebounds and two
steals.

Purdue-North Central shot 26-for-57 from the field (45.6
percent), 9-for-23 from beyond the arc (39.1 percent) and 16-for-22 from the
free-throw line (72.7 percent). The Panthers had 4 assists, 22 turnovers, six
offensive rebounds and four steals.

ONU be back on the court Wednesday, Feb. 19, on the road
against conference opponent No. 1 Cardinal Stritch University (Wis.) at 7:30
p.m.